Point Bonita News

I photographed last night with some friends at Point Bonita at sunset courtesy of a very accomodating docent, Peter Snowberg! Chatting with Peter while waiting for the sun to set, he mentioned that there are plans in the works to allow visitors to Point Bonita to tour the lantern room. The Park Service and Coast Guard have approved the idea and a procedure for the docents leading the tours is now being drafted. Peter said that he was hopeful that they'd being allowing the tours in a month or two.

Again, I'll keep the forum posted when I know more and will follow this up with some photos Monday night.

Gary

Maybe this will be in effect when I get out there some time in June. As always, I'm looking forward to seeing some more of your photos.

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

OK, got my slides back from the trip to California. Following are some of what I shot during my two visits to Point Bonita at the mouth of San Francisco bay. One of the visits was on Saturday during the normal hours when the light is open to the public, i.e. crawling with people most of the time. I'll scan some of those to post later. The second visit was arranged with Peter the docent to photograph at sunset last Friday. Shooting at sunset in California this time of year is always a guessing game as to whether the layer of fog that hangs out over the Pacific is going to allow you any sort of sunset worth photographing. As luck would have it, last Friday night Nepture was accomodating! This first shot was taken about 30 min after the sun had actually set and is a longish exposure. 60 sec at f22 on Fuji Velvia (iso 50) slide film.



Hope you enjoy these, more coming as the night progresses and I get more scans done!

Gary

Very sharp, Gary! If the weather would be decent, I could be convinced to hang around Michigan Saturday until sunset- I MUST get a few of those for myself!

Bud

Thanks, Bud! Not sure what the weather is supposed to be here on Saturday, I'll certainly let you know.

Attached are a couple more sunset shots from last Friday night at Point Bonita. The first just below was shot somewhat later, when the light levels were lower, than the one that follows.





Gary

Looking north up the coast, the Marin Headlands were wrapped in mist that took on the warm glow of the setting sun, giving sort of an ethereal feel to the evening.... quite a place to go for a photo shoot if you arrange it in advance!

[img]http://www.shuttercity.com/public/lighthouse_photo/Marin%20Headlands%2Ejpg[/img]

Gary


[This message has been edited by lighthouse_photo (edited 05-02-2002).]

Is This Heaven?


[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 04-22-2002).]

Last shot of the night... This one was taken somewhat before the first photo I posted on this thread. I'm beat so there will be more along tomorrow.



Gary

I love your photos Gary! Where did you stand to take the pictures? The last time I was there(1997), the walkway closed at 4:30 or 5:00pm and you couldn't see the lighthouse unless you could get through the closed door.

Lorie,

We made arrangements several weeks in advance with the docents who work at Golden Gate National Recreation Area to escort us down to the light to photograph at sunset. That is the only way that you can get there to get the shots that we took. The door is still there and still locked unless you make special arrangements well in advance. I'd strongly recommend doing so if you want to get sunset shots of Point Bonita from the angles I've shown in the pics here. Alternatively, given a long lens (300 mm or longer, preferably), you can photograph the light from up on top by the radar station, but it isn't quite the same view. I did that one evening while I was there and will post some shots from that angle later, maybe tonight.

Hope this helps.
Gary

Gary,

Great pictures.

Always enjoy seeing examples of your work.

Planning ahead is the only way to go with many of the Lighthouses. They are available only so much of the time, and not nesacarrily when you want.

We had to decide on several trips which ones you definitely want to get into if possible and bite the bullet on the others. The problem is that many are only open on the weekends and it's hard to be in 7 places at the same time and get any enjoyment out of the visit.

The worst trip for these decisions was the one to CA and Or 2 years ago, but we got to most of the must sees- Pt Bonita, Pt Reyes, Pt Sur, Pt Arena, Pigeon Point, Pt Fermin, Pt Cabrillo, Batery Pt and a host of others from San diego to Bandon, OR.

Thanks again for the pictures.

Dennis

As usual, great pictures Gary! Keep 'em coming!

Gary

As usual great photos. The ones of the lighted lens are really interesting to one who has never seen a lighted one.

Hank

Hank,

Keep an eye open... I have a number of photos of various lenses lighted. I'll cull those from my collection and will post them in a separate thread on here soon.

Gary

Great pictures as usual Gary. I have been to Point Bonita 3 time and was not able to go all the way down all three times. Once because of weather, once we got there just as the gate was being closed and once in the evening long after it closed. Will try again this fall. I really like the two with the lighted lens, especially the first one with the sun reflecting on the tower. Nice touch.

Dale

Stunning photos Gary, thanks.

Once again....WOW!

Very wonderful pictures, Gary. These are the types of shots which keep me trying to better with my own work. Were these slides scanned with a slide, (or film) scanner? Keep 'em coming!

Ned,

I always shoot slides and scan them myself using a Nikon Coolscan 4000ED scanner that will deliver scans at 4000 dpi if I want to do an enlargement. At that resolution, you can actually throw away data points to do a 12x18 print! Personally, I've not found the scans done by commercial processing labs and delivered as PhotoCDs to be satisfactory for most of what I do.

Gary

Gary,

Thanks agin for the great shots! I'd love to get to your level of expertise behind the camera. Some day...

-- Mitch

Thanks for answering my question, Gary. I've used some slide film a few times in the past, and found it to be fun to work with. The only prints I have had created were through a place in Denver, but the cost is somewhat high. My photo finisher tells me that any images I have scanned and put onto a CD will produce prints as good as from my negatives, but now I am beginning to wonder if that is possible - even with print film. I echo the last comments by Mitch. Your work is very impressive!

I forgot to add Gary that I really like the first picture in this thread. The way that the horizon lines up with the suspension bridge is great. My last trip to SF was not accompanied by the best of weather conditions. That was also back when my equipment was rather lacking. That was also my first, and probably last opportunity to take a visit to the top of the South tower on the Golden Gate Bridge - (courtesy of a friend who works for the transportation district). If only I had the camera I own now! I'm sure that the 9-11 events will suspend any visits like I took for quite some time, if ever again. Ned

Superb photos as usual, Gary -- even though I did see them all already!!



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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

P. S. If I get anything at all close to any of these when we're there in June, I'll be very happy!



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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

[This message has been edited by 1of3trees@prodigy.net (edited 04-29-2002).]

Well, Fri. a.m. we leave and Mon., 6/3 (Parnelli Dan's 62nd birthday, too), we'll be at Point Bonita to photograph after normal hours as arranged by our mutual friend, Bill Taylor. Obviously I'm getting more excited about this and it's going to be really hard to keep my mind on work on Tues., Wed. and Thurs.!!

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

Trading e-mails yesterday with a friend who lives out in the Sacremento, I learned that he and Terry Forrest had had a great time shooting one evening earlier this week at Point Bonita. Bill told me that they've not yet started tours of the lantern room, evidently a safety concern that remains to be resolved. Bill also told me that he and Terry had had much better light that he and I did when I would out there in April. That said, I'm looking for some really nice Point Bonita posts to this thread here on the Lighthouse Photography forum. Let's see what ya got, Terry!

Gary

Have yet to scan any of the lighthouse photos, Gary. But with 2 times each to Point Montara and Pigeon Point (once in foggy light and once in good light) plus Point Bonita, there should be some good ones. Maybe tomorrow I'll spend some time scanning a few of each lighthouse.

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

I know I'm looking forward to seeing what you got, Terry!

Gary

I'm also looking forward to your Pt. Montara/Pigeon Point./Pt. Bonita. I know you got some good ones, Terry

If my "lovely server will allow me to, I will post a Point Bonita photo here!! This is one of the ones before the sun set.



That's now one each of Point Montara, Pigeon Point and Point Bonita, and of course, there are lots more!

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

[This message has been edited by 1of3trees@prodigy.net (edited 06-24-2002).]

Some evening light of "Pt. Bonita" , taken from the radar station.
[img]http://www.shuttercity.com/public/bt1947/bonita%2Ejpg[/img]

Nice shots of Point Bonita, you too... you're making me envious and wishing I'd been there too! But, nice to see Point Bonita again and it does look like you had good light, which sort of makes up for the several times I've been there (before the last time) when the light was pretty yucky.

Somebody has to hit lucky with the light once in a while and I sure can't complain with some of what I've been fortunate enough to get to shoot in the past year, like the sun pillar here at South Haven last January!

Gary

Thanks, Gary! Great shot, Bill!

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

Another Pt. Bonita shot taken during a photo shoot with Gary Martin this last April. Me and Terry also had good light this early June, probably a tad bit better because of the scattered wispy clouds.

Very nice photo, Bill! Great perspective and colors.

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

Some really nice photos of Point Bonita from both of you! On the whole, from what you've posted thus far, you seem to have had better color than we did in April when Bill and I shot at Bonita.

Gary

Ned,

To respond to a comment you made about wondering if it were possible to get prints from slides that are as good as those from negatives... If I couldn't get prints comparable to what I'm posting here from the scans, I wouldn't do it... I'd be using some other approach to get me the sort of prints that I want. If your photo processor can't deliver, I would strongly suggest that you seek out another lab to do your prints. I run all of my work through the professional photographic lab here in Kalamazoo - Kalamazoo Color Lab (616)344-6000 (8AM-5:30 PM Eastern time). When someone answers, ask for Rich, and tell him that I suggested that you call. He can give you the lowdown on prices and shipping slides to them, etc. They can generate prints for you directly from your slides. They'll do the appropriate digital scan in the process and you can have it burned to a CD at the same time for whatever the additional charge is, which would probably be worth it if you think you'll ever want further prints of a particular image. While I just walk in the door and hand them my stuff, I suspect you'll get great service from them regardless. They've been in business here in Kalamazoo for about 40 years or so and the quality of their work, as far as what they've done with my images at least, is impeccable! They've generated prints for me as large as 30x40 inches that I have been very happy with! Terry Forrest has also had them process some of her stuff and you may get a follow up comment from here on this thread if she sees my comments.

Hope that this helps some, Ned, if you need more info, just e-mail me.

Gary

Ned, just saw this now. I've been very pleased with the work that Kal Color has done for me. In addition to my slides when I've been in MI (coming again in Sept.), I had them do 3 - 12x18 laser jet prints laminated for an extremely reasonable amount of money and they did a very good job with them. If you specifically want to know the cost, e-mail me @1of3trees@prodigy.net.


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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest